Chance the Rapper is the NHL’s most honest rinkside reporter (Video)

Chance showed during his SNL episode that’s he is the realest rinkside reporter to ever call a Rangers game.

Chance the Rapper, noted Chicagoan, philanthropist, good dude and yes, rapper, hosted the Thanksgiving episode of Saturday Night Live this week and by most reviews, it was wonderful. The episode’s been called a highlight of the season thus far, with more than one reviewer suggesting Chance might be the show’s next Justin Timberlake, which is to say, a musical star whose comedic chops make him a repeat host.

Said comedic chops were on display all night, but his performance as a Knicks courtside reporter on incredibly cold rinkside duty at a New York Rangers game was particularly delightful.

Chance, as Lazlo Holmes, attempts to give his impressions of the game (“One of the main guys on the Rangers, don’t know how to say his name, it has like 30 letters in it, none of them are vowels, he’s playing great”), talk about the offense (“That’s what’s up”), and do a rinkside interview (“Come on over here…dude”).

As they say in hockey, let’s do that hockey.

Chance’s comedic timing is pretty great and his one-word shutdowns slash begrudging acceptance of his lot is amazing. (“That’s the story here in hell.”)

And if we’re being honest, hockey is due for some good old-fashioned teasing — the fistfights, pads, and cold. And, delightfully, the names. Name jokes are normally the low-hanging fruit of football comedy, so it’s nice to see another sport’s players — “That’s an S, a K, and a J all next to each other, so that’s a nope,” — get the same treatment.

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Other highlights from Chance’s night hosting the show included a 90s-style R&B slow jam entitled “Come Back, Barack”” and a Batman sketch in which Bruce Wayne is called out for racial profiling.